Gateway Schools

This month, at a conference of more than 1,000 obesity experts in D.C., a “panel of independent experts” got together to discuss the role schools should play in fighting the obesity “epidemic.”

“The panel recommended that schools position themselves as gateways to obesity prevention,” says the L.A. Times, “ensuring that children get at least an hour of physical activity daily, barring access to foods and beverages high in calories, and offering all students healthful, nutritious foods and instruction in the fundamentals of healthful eating and living.”

 
It seems to us that school are already positioning themselves as miniature food police states, or, we mean, “gateways to obesity prevention.” In the news, we hear of schools where officials inspect sack lunches and replace them with chicken nuggets, and where students’ eating and exercise habits are monitored both on and outside of school grounds.

A school district in Colorado has banned sweets, even for fundraisers. Legislators in Massachusetts passed a bill banning bake sales but the public/parental backlash was strong enough to motivate the governor to lift the ban only days later.

In Utah, two different high schools have been fined nearly $20,000 for the crime of accidentally selling soda, prompting Rep. Rob Bishop to lecture his colleagues on the Constitution.

And the food control doesn’t end at the school gates—there’s a bill in California that would restrict food trucks from operating within 1,500 feet of a school.

This is what the obesity experts want to see more of—even though research finds no link between student obesity and “junk food” sold in schools, much less outside of school grounds.

The good news is that sometimes, as in Massachusetts, the parents assert themselves and get results. We also see students rebelling against their schools' food restrictions … even up in socialist-friendly Canada:

The “experts” want schools to shift from education to indoctrination–on food and other subjects–and what they’re doing in the schools is what they’d like to do in society at large. It’s up to "We the People" to be their hall monitors.

Food Deserts' Dwindling Defenders

While there has been no official administration response to the New York Times’ food desert myth-busting story, there a few lonely voices stranded in the rhetorical wasteland, making weak attempts to salvage the concept or at least shift the message.

 

One of those voices is that of food policy researcher Mari Gallagher, who according to the Chicago Tribune "popularized the term 'food desert.'" Gallagher said she welcomed the two research studies but attacked the New York Times reporter’s "sloppy job of getting the facts straight." Gallagher faulted the article for giving "the inaccurate impression that food access and the concept of food deserts does not matter." Well, if the concept of food deserts is a false one, it matters only as an example of misleading propaganda that uses poverty as an excuse to expand government’s size and power.

In a real desert, you don't get fat. You starve.

Another food-desert clinger is Sam Kass, a healthy food policy guru/assistant chef for the White House. In an interview with The Root, Kass argues that the administration never claimed that simply building more grocery stores would solve the problem, and that more government programs will be needed. It’s classic liberal thinking: if one wasteful program doesn’t work—or, in this case, addresses a made-up problem—we should deploy several more wasteful programs.

 

The Root interviewer writes that Kass is “unconcerned” about public criticism of the food-desert initiative. His defense is basically a rehashing of talking points: "'I think there were attempts to paint this effort as something that it's not. This is a bipartisan effort that has support from all sectors of society,’ he said, adding that everybody has a stake when one in three Americans are on track to have diabetes by 2050 if nothing changes." Yes, we are all in this together and the administration has nothing but good intentions, so nobody could possibly have a legitimate criticism.

 

Then there’s Sarah Parsons, a writer at the progressive-leaning activist organization/media outfit Good. Parsons’ May 2^nd article "Beyond the Food Desert: Why We Can't Get Healthy Foods in Poor Communities" somewhat concedes the weakness of the food desert argument, calling it a "puzzle." In her follow-up column on May 8^th, Parsons picks the food desert meme right back up again, writing that “more than 20 million people live in food deserts,” etc. Apparently she hasn’t received word from headquarters to drop the whole food desert thing, so she’ll continue just have to continue as if nothing happened—even though liberals are always supposed to bow before the latest science!

 

Like Kass and Gallagher, Parsons tries to shift away from the old message that wiping out food deserts is central to the obesity/poverty link to a new message that it is only one part of the big-government solution. Parsons says another factor is “a lack of access to exercise. Unlike their more affluent counterparts, low-income neighborhoods aren’t flush with playgrounds, tennis courts, parks, and gyms. Poor communities also tend to be more dangerous than those of higher socioeconomic status, so the public exercise options that are available may go unused for fear of violence.”

 

Fear of violence—by animals rather than other people—was what led to a recent HHS boondoggle in Nashville, in which money from an anti-obesity slush fund was used to spay animals because the local citizens where supposedly people too scared of stray dogs to go jogging. To make the episode more ironic, free pizza was served at the community meet-and-greets that promoted the anti-obesity program. Has anyone in the government ever heard of exercising indoors?

The nanny-staters want the power to magically deliver good food and "access to exercise" right to the doorsteps of the country's poor. Meanwhile in the real world, the supposed link between obesity and poverty just took another hit: "Contrary to popular belief, many healthy foods are no more expensive than junk food, according to a large new government analysis."

The reality is that everyone at every level has to make choices within their individual situation. It’s not that “We Can't Get Healthy Foods in Poor Communities” (to quote the title of Parsons’ article), it’s that it’s we can’t make people eat it. Human nature is funny that way--and progressive food nannies don’t seem to get it. 

Today's Burger News

From MSN Now: "A neighborhood city council in Melbourne, Australia is thinking about slugging fast-food outlets like McDonald's and KFC with a 400 percent increase in the rates they pay to operate in the area. The hope is that the so-called 'fat tax' will discourage consumers from eating junk food, and decrease ever-soaring obesity statistics and related maladies like diabetes and heart disease. Because, you know, increasing the price of things like alcohol and cigarettes has definitely solved problems like binge-drinking and smoking."

I hope no one tells the Melbourne city council about Epic Meal Time's latest creation: a 109,000-calorie bacon burger. They might try to tax the Internet itself.

The first story shows the state trying to punish perceived indulgence and exert control over behavior. The second story shows citizens who dare to cook and eat whatever they want in the face of the food police, health, and maybe even sanity. The Epic Meal Time guys made their burger-of-doom on their own; they didn't get it from a drive-thru. So should grocery stores be taxed, too?

And So Begins the War on Bake Sales

This week we have heard the opening shots of the War on Bake Sales. (And you thought Cupcake Wars was just the name of a Food Network show …)


Banned in Boston!
(Photo: thecupcakeblog.com)



 Greeley, CO school officials recently banned all sweets, even for fundraisers held outside of the school. They’re such food Nazis that even banned diet soda! Only treats made from an approved recipe that includes black beans will be allowed. Black-bean brownies? Uh, no thanks.

But that was just one school district. The entire freakin’ state of Massachusetts has now banned bake sales.

One parent told the Boston Herald, “The goal is to raise money ... You’re going to be able to sell pizza. You’re not going to get that selling apples and bananas. It’s silly.”

On the other hand, Sen. Susan Fargo (D-MA), says the child obesity “crisis” has made the ban an unfortunate necessity. “If we didn’t have so many kids that were obese, we could have let things go,” Fargo is quoted in the Herald. “But this is a major public health problem and these kids deserve a chance at a good, long healthy life.” Because we all know how many lives have been cut tragically short by bake sales and candy-bar team fundraisers. Out with lemon bars and in with Leninism – we have a crisis on our hands, comrades!

Are we the only ones who suspect that the parents, officials, and legislators who are anti-bake-sale would be A-OK with distributing condoms at school?

5/14/12 Update: After the public outcry, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said he will lift the bake-sale ban, although the state health department says the ban will still apply in cafeterias during the school day. It's interesting how quickly Massachusetts, one of the most liberal states, reversed course. The food nannies definitely went too far with this one. Parents know when their authority is being usurped.

Now That's A Stuffed Crust

Improbably, our nation is falling behind in the stuffed-crust pizza race. Pizza Hut UK unveiled a hot dog-stuffed pizza. "Pizza Hut's contribution to British cuisine," CSPI snarked on its Facebook page. To which I say, the Brits have never been known for their cuisine to begin with.

Not to be outdone, Pizza Hut Middle East concocted a pizza 'crowned' with mini-cheeseburgers on the crust and burger toppings in the middle.

Pizza Hut Middle East also has a Crown Crust pizza with pieces of chicken fillet in the crust.

Considering how many food-policing laws and ideas come from abroad, it's nice to occasionally see some American-style food extravagance in other countries. These products go against the notion that Americans are the world's worst gluttons. France, the country considered most sophisticated in all things food, actually loves McDonald's and recently started selling McBaguette burgers. Fast food and fine cuisine can co-exist just fine, despite what any food snob might tell you.

P.S. Do you remember which conservative star appeared in one of the first Pizza Hut stuffed crust ads?

Food Deserts: Indefensible?

It's been a week since the food desert-debunking story broke. In the light of new research, both right-wing and left-wing media have criticized the notion that poor city-dwellers are more obese because a lack of healthy food sources where they live. Some have called it a well-intentioned myth and others an outright scam, but the consensus is that the existence of food deserts is not supported by facts.

There hasn't been any official response from the Administration or Let's Move yet. So the question is: will any reporter have the cojones to ask Michelle Obama about this debacle? Shouldn't she explain why we should spend $400 million to solve an imaginary problem?

I say we send this intrepid young reporter after her:

It's a sad state of affairs when a kid is asking tougher questions than professional journalists. Maybe the First Lady can squeeze in an interview between vacations.

P.S. If an urban area has a high population of dogs, could it still be considered a food desert?